PSCGB: Promising debut weekend cut short for Aimee Watts at Donington Park
- LIAM REDFORD
- Apr 30
- 3 min read
Aimee Watts displayed her potential during the opening sessions of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain opener, where the rookie showed top-5 speed in class during free practice before qualifying in fifth place at Donington Park. Unfortunately, a sizeable accident forced her to withdraw from the remainder of the event.
Aimee Watts displayed her potential during the opening round of Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, despite her participation in the event being cut short. Competing with Clean Racing, Watts showed top-5 potential during free practice in the RS Am class before qualifying in fifth place at Donington Park. Unfortunately, Watts had a sizeable accident during race one and the damage sustained to the car forced her to withdraw from the remainder of the event.
Moving into Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain represented a significant step up for Watts. For the past two seasons, Aimee had raced in the Clapham North MOT Mazda MX-5 Supercup Championship and was a multiple race winner in the Club class. Watts narrowly missed out on claiming the Club class championship title in 2024 and has continued to remain sharp by competing in the opening two rounds of the Miata Trophy prior to this weekend.
Now competing on the TOCA package in the RS Am class of Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain with Clean Racing, Watts entered the top class within the championship utilising the most powerful specification of Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport machine. She joined a Clean Racing squad who have enjoyed success in the series and with teammates Toby Trice and Matt Kyle-Henney both experienced in the one-make championship, she was looking to lean on their experience to make progress throughout the season.
Although the 2025 calendar does not visit Aimee’s favourite circuit, Snetterton, she will get two chances to race at her home track of Brands Hatch. Trips to Oulton Park and Knockhill will also provide significant challenges while traffic management may come into play at some of the shorter circuits visited by Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain.
Watts showed encouraging pace in the pre-season test day and was looking to carry this forward into the two free practice sessions on Thursday at Donington Park. Aimee’s potential was clear as she improved by over one second across the course of the day. At the end of Thursday’s two sessions, Watts had set a fastest time of a 1:08.522 which placed her fourth in the RS Am class.
Qualifying was held on Saturday morning with 30-minutes of running afforded to the drivers. Following a red flag during the middle portion of the session to retrieve the car of RS Am class rival Karim Sekkat, Watts improved during the second half of qualifying. Aimee came within a tenth of a second of matching her quickest testing time and her 1:08.684 placed her fifth in the RS Am class before a second red flag ended the session early.
For the opening race of the season Watts lined up from 14th on the overall grid, fifth within the RS Am class. Aimee made a clean start and although she fell to seventh in class, she was looking fast behind rival Karim Sekkat. On lap two, Sekkat had a spin and this promoted Watts to sixth as she now hunted down a position inside the top-5.
On lap three, Watts had a high-speed incident at the Old Hairpin and made contact with the barrier. Fortunately, Aimee was unharmed but she was forced to retire from the race with significant damage to her car. The damage was unfortunately extensive enough for Watts to withdraw from the remainder of the weekend at Donington Park.
Despite this early season setback, Watts showed excellent speed on her Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain debut. She displayed her potential through both free practice and qualifying and will now be looking to bounce back when the series returns at Brands Hatch on the weekend of 10th/11th May.
